A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus has an airtight structure because the inside of the apparatus, in which a substrate as an object to be processed is processed, must be maintained in vacuum or in a strictly controlled gas atmosphere. Accordingly, a transfer apparatus for transferring a substrate as an object to be processed in a processing apparatus must save a space as far as possible and is required to have a mechanism that generates dusts, worn powder, an out gas (discharged gas), and the like in an amount as small as possible. This is because the dusts, the worn powder, and the like deposit on a substrate to be processed as particles (foreign substances) and is mixed with a thin film formed on a substrate surface as particles (foreign substances). Further, since an increase of a maintenance period of a substrate transfer apparatus and a vacuum processing apparatus increases a number of substrates to be processed from a view point of a manufacturing step, it is strongly required to increase a life of the apparatuses and to increase a life of a vacuum seal portion.
There is known a transfer apparatus capable of performing a transfer job of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and the like, in, for example, a processing apparatus without reciprocatingly moving a transfer arm repeatedly as a conventional substrate transfer apparatus (see Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: JP-A-1992(Hei4)-30447 (see, e.g., claims)